


Without knowing how, or when, or from where

by Arkadien



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern: No Powers, Alternate Universe - Sentinels & Guides, Loki is a shit, M/M, old work is old, well not those powers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-24
Updated: 2018-12-25
Packaged: 2019-09-25 21:57:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 18,150
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17129465
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arkadien/pseuds/Arkadien
Summary: "Loki pulled himself from his bed regretfully, still mentally arguing with himself. He knew the ending to this particular story. It was the same as all Guides who tried to buck the system but couldn't bring themselves to go off the grid. Sooner or later his house of cards would collapse and he wouldn't have the luxury of scurrying away to a bolthole. Someone would find him and then they'd snatch him and never let go. He'd end up like all other unruly Guides. Collared, bonded and watched for the rest of his life, resentfully serving because he had no other choice."Loki is more than a reluctant Guide. Thor is a determined Sentinel. Loki proceeds to do whatever he wants and Thor does whatever he wants. It's a disaster really.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This work was written like roughly ten million years ago and then I got a divorce. I've done a little light editing but it's pretty much the same story it was when I wrote it for all my sins. But it was the first time I finished something so damnit I'm going to post it anyway.

The door is cracked. Loki’s hand (so small) reaches for it even though he crawls with dread, wanting to stop, not wanting to step inside. "Loki... My little Loki..." Laufey's hand is stretched out in supplication, either not knowing or not caring about the blood staining it. It’s obscenely red against her pale skin and it makes him want to wretch. The dripping liquid falling from the knife is the worst sound in the world. 

"Helblindi?" Loki's voice trembles as he calls out to one of the bodies lying limp on the floor. "Bylestr?" Neither of them move and their stillness lets Loki know that they won't be getting up again. 

"They've all gone sweet. We're all..." Laufey trails off for a second, staring into space. With an effort the disheveled woman snaps back to reality. "We're all going to go and see your father. Won't that be wonderful sweetie? It's just you now Loki. My little baby... Been waiting for you to come home so we can leave... Just you and then I can rest."

"I don't want to go anywhere mom." His voice is choked with tears. She ignores him, humming and looking off into the distance. "Mom, please. We need to get help! Let me call an ambulance!" He edges towards the phone but a manically strong hand stops him, ragged fingernails biting into the thin skin of his wrist. It should hurt but he can't feel it. He's trying to breathe and he can't really feel that either. 

"NO! They don't need help! They're fine! We can't be late! Can't be late! We've got to hurry Loki! Your father's waiting! I can hear him calling us!" She begins to drag him away from the phone. The bathroom door is open and the light is on. He doesn't want to go in there. 

"STOP IT MOM! Dad's dead!" Loki's voice rings clear, cutting through Laufey's mumbling.

"Shut up! Shut up shuttupshutup!" Laufey shrieks and drives the knife down. Loki screams.

The alarm blared and Loki St. Lawrence remained motionless in his bed. He had actually been awake for some time now, long enough for the sweat of the nightmare to dry on his skin. The tantalizing aroma of coffee teased at his nose but his stomach was too busy tying itself in knots to appreciate it. This was an idiotic plan. It was the very height of senseless stupidity and arrogance. 

He pulled himself from his bed regretfully, still mentally arguing with himself. He knew the ending to this particular story. It was the same as all Guides who tried to buck the system but couldn't bring themselves to go off the grid. Sooner or later his house of cards would collapse and he wouldn't have the luxury of scurrying away to a bolthole. Someone would find him and then they'd snatch him and never let go. He'd end up like all other unruly Guides. Collared, bonded and watched for the rest of his life, resentfully serving because he had no other choice. 

But no matter how much he argued he couldn't talk himself into quitting his job, not now when he was so close. The Tesseract formula was within his reach. He could practically feel it! If he could just figure out where SHIELD was hiding it then he'd be in the clear, free from the shackles of being a level ten empathic guide. And then the last of Loki St. Lawrence could vanish and he could just be Loki or Tom if the mood suited him. His dark past would die and he'd be safe. He couldn't even truly comprehend the word. He'd never been safe. But he wanted to be. 

~*~

The dark haired, tall man stepped into the subway car with a sigh, gratefully cradling the warmth of his latte between his hands. New York in the winter was truly awful. If he wasn't so in love with every other aspect of the Big Apple he'd throw up his hands and move down south. He could never seem to get warm, even with the electric blanket on his bed and hot water bottles in his pockets. Some days he wished that he could just hibernate. 

Above him a perky, blonde SHIELD agent beamed vapidly from her poster. ‘COME GET TESTED TODAY! A BRIGHT FUTURE WAITS!’ The poster read. He snorted in disgust. What they didn't tell you was that the future was only bright if you tested as a Sentinel. As a Sentinel you received a pay raise, full insurance, preference in hospitals, adulation... The list was endless. Guides on the other hand seemed to be made up of the things they lost. They had to leave their jobs, leave their homes, most of the time they even left their families if they had them. All in the name of devotion to their Sentinels. It made him sick. Of course SHIELD always "made every effort" to keep families together and the turmoil to a minimum but bonded pairs had an 83% chance of becoming sexually involved within the first year. Ordinary families, it seemed, just couldn't compete with a mystical bond (or more likely the adrenaline rushes that Sentinels searched out). Thus far Loki had escaped that unhappy fate but really it was only a matter of time before he lost everything. Not that he really had anything, he mused dispiritedly. One lone friend, his freedom and a job that he was far overqualified for.  
Lost in his bitter introspection he almost missed his stop. "Damn!" He cursed and burst out of the subway car. "DAMN!" He yelled, clenching an empty fist and realizing he'd left his briefcase behind. He whirled but the doors had already closed. "Damn." He watched the subway speed off forlornly and prayed he hadn't left something too important behind. Not that he really needed a briefcase as an IT tech but he refused to stoop to carrying a backpack like some of his coworkers. 

Someone tapped at his shoulder and he whirled around, ready to scald whoever interrupted his sulk with furious words but. Oh. Well.

There was a large man standing behind him, a man almost as tall as him which was unusual. At 6’3 he towered over almost everyone. Loki was reminded of childhood bedtime stories. The man was definitely a 10 as Darcy would say, a perfect Prince Charming. Well... Darcy would probably say something lewd. Or turn him into a meme. A tug of low grade attraction curled through his belly. 

The big, blonde sex god smiled tentatively and held up a familiar case. "Oh, my hero!" Loki breathed, aiming a grateful smile at the man while he reached for the item in question. The man moved it ever so slightly out of reach. Loki frowned and stepped forward. "Excuse me but if you wouldn't mind I'm late-"

"Ah but maybe I do mind." Loki's head snapped up to meet the stranger's twinkling blue gaze. "After all doesn't a hero usually receive a reward?" And then before Loki could properly rage at the man he added. "Tell me your name."

Fine. Whatever. He just needed his briefcase. His eyebrow twitched, the attraction he’d felt subsumed under irritation. Maybe he was more like Prince Idiot. "It's Tom. Tom Hiddleston."

The man frowned at him. "You are lying. That is not nice." Loki blinked and focused on the other man. Now that he was properly looking he saw the dark blue under armor shirt of a SHIELD employee. Of all the rotten luck! A Sentinel! Too bad. He probably could have put up with the terrible manners long enough to get a leg over. 

"Ah no." Loki lied smoothly, displaying the remarkable talent for lying that had earned him the name Silvertongue during his… troubled youth. "I'm just...nervous." He fidgeted to add to the pretense and also because he could just genuinely not stand still. He hated Sentinels and if this man got too interested then he'd eventually figure out Loki was a Guide and then all his careful plans could be ruined and- With sheer force of will he shut off his spiraling panic and projected everything he had into sincerity, subtly enforcing it with his empathy. "I just..." he flushed delicately, eyes lingering on the other man's muscular arms. 'Harmless harmless not lying not lying believe me!'

A warm, slightly salacious chuckle let him know that his lie had been bought. His lips twitched but he managed to conceal the smirk that wanted to spread across his face. Sentinels... Always thinking everyone wanted a ride. "My name is Thor Hemsworth." He stuck a large hand out agreeably and waited. Loki reluctantly shook it. "It's quite nice to meet you Tom."

"You as well." Loki smiled insincerely. "Now may I have my briefcase back?" Thor Hemsworth… the name was familiar but surely he'd remember knowing a Thor? He stowed the notion away for later study.

Thor gave no sign of having heard him. He was busy peering at Loki with a slight frown. "My friend," He began slowly. Loki fought off the automatic denial that rose to his lips and waited. "Have you been tested by a SHIELD office? I'm getting the most peculiar feeling..." Loki almost threw up. It never got easier, no matter how many times he did this. 

"Ah" Loki laughed self-deprecatingly. This lie was easy. Unlike the first he'd had years to practice this one. By now he'd repeated it so much it almost seemed true. The trick wasn't the lie. It was getting people to believe it. "Yes. I went when I was 18. What every boy dreams of right? Being a Sentinel. They told me that if there was such a thing as being ALMOST a Guide then I was it. Genetics just skipped me over I guess." He shrugged.

"Oh." Thor's frown got a little deeper. "That's a shame." Loki had a sudden and deeply felt impulse to punch him in his stupid mouth. Luckily, he was long accustomed to the ignorance of the world and he controlled himself. 

"Yes well..." He smiled. "Guess we can't all be superheroes right? Now if I could just have my briefcase back?" He held out a hand, just wanting to get away from this big beautiful man who felt like he would unravel all his secrets if Loki stayed long enough. Thor handed it over, blue eyes lingering on his face. Why was his face so familiar? Thoroughly unnerved, Loki grabbed it and turned sharply, walking away in what he told himself was a cool, collected stroll and not a scurrying run.  
~*~  
Odin Hemsworth clicked on his desk light and slid a thick file out from one of the drawers. After all these years the file was bent and stained with the efforts of countless sleepless nights. He slid one hand down the cover and then opened it to see the smiling face of young Loki St. Lawrence. He sighed brokenly and reached for the glass of Scotch at his elbow only to be stopped by a delicate feminine hand. "Frigga" He murmured. "You should be in bed sweet."

"So should you!" She retorted. "And yet here we are." She took a sip and cocked a hip to hitch herself up on the arm of his chair. 

"Wife!" He growled but she ignored him, moving to look down at the file. One soft arm curled around his back in comfort. He accepted it gratefully and curled a large hand over her soft one, kissing the back. 

"Loki again?"

"Loki." He sighed an agreement. "I just keep thinking that I'm missing something! That I'll find some clue and finally be able to bring him home."

"And if he's dead?" Frigga's voice was carefully neutral. After all these years, she knew how deeply Odin felt his failure with Loki. His failure with Thor. 

"Then at least I can lay him to rest with his brothers." And get him out of my head. He added silently. Loki had haunted him long enough. 

"You know" Frigga's voice was thoughtful. "I think Loki's the reason Thor hasn't picked a Guide yet. In his heart he's still waiting for Loki to come home." She sighed and finished off his drink. “Sometimes I think we are too. 

Odin grunted. "It's foolish of him."

"I think it's sweet. It was all going to be so perfect." Frigga's voice was wistful. "Thor and Loki, the most powerful pair ever born. They were already so close and then later when they bonded we'd all be one big, happy family."

They were both silent for a long moment. Then Odin downed his drink and closed the folder on the boy in the picture. "Maybe it's time we all stopped living in the past." He muttered and went to bed with his wife. That night he dreamed about bright green eyes and a thin hand tugging him towards something. But they never reached their destination. They never did.  
~*~  
It was lunchtime before Loki finally emerged from fiddling with a broken laptop that had just returned from a harrowing journey with a field operative. He rolled his eyes. Really he’d love to know what they did to the poor darlings but he didn’t want to know as much as he wanted to avoid the Sentinels who did it. And so Loki remained clueless.

He stood and cracked his spine then stretched towards the sky. His friend and coworker Jeremy glared up at him. “Tall bastard.” He muttered enviously. 

Loki winked flirtatiously. “You know you love it.” He settled back down. “You want anything from Panera?” Jeremy shook his head. Loki would bring him back something anyway though or the man would mooch his chips. And that situation led only to tears. For Jeremy. 

He grabbed his scarf and left, curling it artfully about his neck. There was one (somewhat shallow) downside to not coming out as a Guide, Loki mused. As an IT guy he didn’t get paid nearly enough to fuel his fashion obsession. He didn’t care if no one ever saw him working on computers down in the basement. Loki would look good while doing so damnit. He sighed mournfully but put the sleek Armani suit he’d been eyeing out of his head as he got in line at the sandwich shop. A second later he spotted a very familiar, very blonde figure in line in front of him and groaned silently. Just his luck. He was not ready for another confrontation with the blond Sentinel. 

Sure enough it only took Thor a few seconds to find him and the man whipped around with a happy smile. “Tom!” He grabbed the woman he’d been chatting with and towed her to where Loki was standing frozen, caught between the urge to flee and the want for a tomato and mozzarella sandwich. The knowledge that fleeing would be suspicious made him stand his ground and then cautiously advance forward to meet the duo. 

As he moved forward the woman’s nostrils flared. He caught himself thinking sullenly that she looked like a horse and then forcibly stopped himself from pursuing that line of thought as she fixed a very polite, friendly look on her face. “Thor was right. You do smell like a Guide!” She blushed. “Oh! Sorry. I’m Jane. Jane Foster. I’m always forgetting my manners.” She laughed sheepishly. He hated her. And he hated Thor's hand on her arm. And he hated himself for hating it. He was just feeling very hateful today. It was probably low blood sugar. 

“You see!” Thor clapped a hand on his shoulder. “Tom, my friend, you should get retested! Maybe they just missed it the first go round!” He beamed as if he had just cured cancer. Loki wanted to smack him. “Missed it the first go round”, honestly. 

“I hardly think that’s likely.” Loki drawled, inwardly panicking. His results had been falsified by Darcy but if anyone wanted to actually test him there would be no plausible deniability. Blood was blood. Damn!

Unexpectedly Jane rescued him. “Now Thor” She laughed. “If he’s been tested he’s been tested.” She smiled teasingly. “I know you want him as your Guide but you’ll just have to settle for someone less pretty.” 

NO! Loki's throat closed up abruptly and his eyes widened. From very far away, he could hear himself begin to stutter, searching for some excuse, some way out. He couldn’t deal with this. At last, in a voice far too high, he managed to stammer out “Yes yes. Too bad Oh! I’m late! I really do have to get back to the office!” 

Thor’s brow furrowed. “But you have only just arrived.” He needed to go. He needed to go!

“Ah.” He forced a laugh. “Been running errands. Really Thor- I’ve got to go! Maybe some other time.” And then he turned heel and fled. 

Behind him, Thor frowned harder. “Jane you frightened him.”

“Oh yeah right!” Jane snorted. “I’m the one who frightened him when you were standing here looking like you wanted to eat him alive!”

“I do.” Thor’s grin was very wide, showing off all of his very white teeth.

She shot him a very unimpressed look and then said thoughtfully. “He may be closer than you think. We’re just down the street from the SHIELD main office. What if he works there? I smelled that weird, ozony scent they use to wipe our senses out on him. And since you’re there all the time anyway...” She waggled her eyebrows at him. “Maybe you and tall, dark and skinny can get to know each other better. And maybe you can convince him to retest. He sure smells Guidey to me.”

“Do you think so?” Thor was practically bouncing. In that moment, she was forcibly reminded of a large golden retriever. 

“Yes but for now calm down and eat your damn sandwich. We have a case remember?”

~*~  
“Oi.” Loki looked up at Jeremy as the man pulled his overcoat on. “I’m going to head out okay? Don’t burn the midnight oil this time. Sometimes you’ve just got to respect the fact that a computer’s broken, take it apart for scrap and then move on.”  
Loki smiled. “I think I’ve almost got it. I’m just going to give it another hour and then I’ll head home.” 

“Whatever kid.” He leaned over and patted Loki’s shoulder. “See you tomorrow.” The door closed behind him and Loki stilled, listening to the footsteps as they grew fainter and fainter and finally hearing the “ding! Swoosh!” of the elevator. Then he leaned over and grabbed his blue tooth. 

“Darcy. He’s gone. Let’s get to work.”

“Okay so tonight I’m going to try and take us around the firewalls instead of through. They’ve got some crazy, mad systems in place dude.” 

“Indeed. Crazy, mad. Just get me around them.”

“Chillax dude. I got mad skills. We’ll get there.”

“Yes but I’d prefer sooner rather than later. You know how it is.”

“Hey man once we get the Tesseract formula we’ll be golden. Now shut up and do what I tell you.”  
“Yes your highness.”

“You just can’t resist getting that last dig in can you?”

“Never.”

The next few hours passed swiftly and at last Loki reached out and switched the computer off irritably, knuckling at his eyes. Going around was not proving as fruitful as they'd hoped. “The world should just accede to my every whim without question.” He muttered. 

Darcy snorted in his ear. “Dude I wish that every second of every day.”

~*~

“Sif!” Thor boomed. She sighed and finished pouring herself a cup of coffee before deigning to turn around. 

“You’re awfully cheerful.” She noted and arched a thin dark brow. “Emphasis on the awful.”

“Darling Sif I need you to find a man and see if he works here.”

Sif groaned. “What is it this time Thor? Beautiful silky raven hair? A complexion as pale as the moon? Gorgeous emeralds for eyes? You have such a fetish for dark-haired green-eyed men its not even funny.” She motioned him towards her desk.  
Thor beamed. “Even better! He has all of those things. He’s like a neat little package made just for me!” She thought about tackling that statement and then decided that she'd leave it to this mystery man. She was tired and Thor was exhausting sometimes. 

“Grrrreeeeat.” She plopped into her seat. “Name?”

“Tom Hiddleston.”

Sif started. “Wait, like the IT guy?”

Thor beamed even harder if it was possible. Sif half swore she saw rainbows and unicorns frolicking behind him. “You are acquainted with the lovely Tom?”

She groaned again. This really wasn’t her morning. “Of course I’m acquainted with him. Anyone who has ever broken a computer lives in fear of a simple software malfunction.”

Thor didn’t even have the decency to frown at this. He just thoughtfully stroked his chin. “So he’s a spitfire as well? Good good. Do you mind if I borrow this Sif?” He picked up her laptop and she saw what was coming a second before and began to yell-  
SMASH!

“Oh no Sif!” His grin stretched from ear to ear. “I have broken your laptop! Most unfortunate.” He stomped on a few protruding pieces. “I wouldn’t want you to get in trouble with Tom though so I’ll go ahead and take it down to IT for you. I’m such a good friend.” He swept up the broken machinery and left as quickly as he had come. Sif buried her head in her hands.

“Agent Sif.” She looked up and there was Phil Coulson, the regional manager. She swallowed hard. “Go requisition supplies for a new laptop. Just tell them to file the maintenance request under Thor. They know what to do.” 

~*~

Loki blearily looked up as the door to the office swung open. He’d been here till three last night and all he wanted was another cup of java and maybe a nap on the cot in the corner. But it was not to be. Fanfuckingtastic.  
There in the doorway stood Thor. “Tom!” He was obviously trying to look surprised and was failing miserably at it. Subtle, Thor was not. “Fancy meeting you here.”  
“Indeed.” He said dryly. “And why are you here exactly?” 

Thor grinned bashfully and produced the mangled body of a sleek little laptop from behind his back. “I require your skills.” He gaped at the poor thing and then looked up at Thor and set his cup down. A hard drive dangled mournfully from a wire.  
“What the hell did you do to the poor thing? Jump up and down on it?” He swept forward and snatched the laptop away clutching it protectively to his chest. He failed to notice the guilty look that briefly swept Thor’s face. “It’s okay” he crooned softly. “We’ll just put you back together. No muss no fuss.” He stopped and glared at the hulking man. “And you. Why are you still here?” 

Thor’s sunny smile dimmed. “Pardon?”

“You heard me. You can pick it up when I’ve undone your cloddish damage. Leave. Shoo. Skedaddle. Vamoose.”

“But I thought I’d stay and keep you company!” Thor protested. “You must be lonely!” Jeremy chose to wander in right at that moment and Thor’s smile dimmed a little further but still hung on determinedly.  
“I’m not.” Loki’s words were cold enough to leave frostbite. 

“Oh.” His shoulders drooped. Even half way across the room Loki could feel the dejection. His hands clenched around the laptop and two fingers nervously played with a bit of string. I don’t need to feel guilty. I don’t need to feel guilty. I- “I’ll just go then.”

“Wait.” Loki called and closed his eyes at the sudden deluge of hope. Jesus what was wrong with this guy? That much feeling should incapacitate a person. “If you are very quiet you may stay and watch.” 

“Silent as a mouse!” Thor cheered and Loki couldn’t help but smile back at him. 

But apparently Thor was a very talkative mouse. Not five minutes after they’d settled themselves he started asking questions. Fucking questions. 

“So how long have you worked at SHIELD?”

“Do you like it here?”

“How do you know so much about computers?”

“Where’d you get that scarf?” His fingers curled into the ends and tugged at it. “I like how green it is.” 

Loki twitched. “I said you could stay if you were quiet. You are not being very quiet.” Thor mimed zipping his lips.

…

“Would you like to go out to dinner tonight?”

“No.” The worst part of it was Thor didn't even look surprised. No, instead he looked almost... anticipatory. That was much worse. 

~*~

Three days later Loki was ready to snap. Thor was down in the IT basement almost every waking second. He was constantly asking questions, constantly in Loki’s personal bubble and to add insult to injury he insisted on Loki quitting every day at promptly 5pm so he couldn’t stay late looking to find a way into SHIELD’s classified files. And he kept touching him. A hand frequently rose to tug playfully at his too long black hair, fingers caressed his arms in glancing little touches, and an arm went around his shoulders at every opportunity. Constantly there. And it all felt so good that each time Thor touched him he got away with it because the barest touch sent bliss and happiness and want through him from Thor. It was maddening. This was why he didn’t let people touch him. Their emotions were overwhelming.

Loki was pouring another cup of coffee when he finally couldn’t take it anymore. It was early. Loki always loved to come in early and start his day off nice and slow, when everything was quiet. And then suddenly everything wasn’t. Thor slammed open the door as was his habit, beaming and generally leaking good will all over the place. 

“Good morning Tom.” He crossed the distance in great strides and came up to lay a heavy hand at the back of Loki’s neck in greeting and oh! Loki almost pitched forward in a surge of arousal. Guides were unusually sensitive at the nape of the neck for whatever reason. Scientists theorized that it was because then the emotion coming off their Sentinels could be felt more intensely closer to the brain but Loki personally rather thought it was because Sentinels and Guides were a throwback to less evolved times and it was just evolutionary imperative trying to make them give in to a bite to the back of the neck. 

But that didn’t really matter right now because Thor’s hand had begun to knead a little bit and Loki’s eyes half closed in bliss. Knots he hadn't even known he'd had were coming undone and the coldness that lingered in his bones was ever so slowly leaching away. Thor rumbled a soft chuckle. “Feel good?”

“You know it does!” Loki snapped, still trying to work up the anger to pull away. 

“You spend too much time bent over, craning that pretty neck of yours. You should relax. Take things slower.”

“I suppose this is the moment where I'm supposed to say some line about enjoying being bent over?” He said, dry as dust. “Thor, its rather exhausting lowering myself to your conversational abilities every day. Can we not?”

Thor leaned closer, breath hit against Loki’s ear. “Are you offering to just skip the talking?”

“No!” He snapped and knocked Thor’s hand away. “I’m not offering and I’m never going to offer! You’re a Sentinel. Go find a Guide. I’m not interested in playing with you.” Thor scented the air pointedly and Loki flushed. “I mean I’m not interested in being a play toy. I’m not what you need and I can’t be yours. Not the way you want me to be.” He very carefully tiptoed around saying he wasn't a Guide. Thor was too damn perceptive even if he chose to act the idiot. 

“But Tom,” Thor reached out and curled a large hand around Loki’s wrists, expression beseeching. “I think you are. I feel such a connection with you. Please let me take you upstairs and have you retested. They’d love to see me paired off. I know they’d do it and it would only take ten minutes-“

“God you just don’t get it do you?!” He exploded. “I’m not your Guide and more importantly I don’t WANT to be your Guide. I want you to leave me alone.” He tore his hands out of Thor's with an effort. His hands hurt worst of all in the winter and it was almost a sensation of physical pain when he made Thor let go of them.

Thor’s face was stone. “I’ll leave you alone if you retest.” His eyes glinted almost silver and Loki was helpless to stop a shiver. The air felt sharp, like the sky before a storm. 

“No.” Loki sneered. “You’ll leave me alone anyway. I’m not your property, Sentinel. Now leave before I call up security you pompous, arrogant, self-centered ass.”

Thor turned to go but called back with an expression dark as thunder. “This isn’t over Tom.”

“It is.” Loki assured, packing as much coldness into his voice as he could possibly muster. “You just don't know it yet.” 

~*~

Loki knocked at the olive green door feeling antsy. Then he knocked again. And again “Darcy let me in!” 

“Alright alright!” The dark haired girl answered the door in pajama bottoms and a tank top, curling her tongue around a tootsie roll pop. “Geez Loki what’s got you all riled up?”

“I need another ID.” He snapped and shoved past her to get inside. 

“What?!? What happened? Have you been compromised?”

“Darcy this isn’t a spy movie.” He chided, neatly folding his coat over the back of a beat up couch. Now that he was inside, he almost felt calm. Darcy's empathy buzzed against his own abilities and the familiar burr of her mind helped him think. 

“With what we’re doing Loki it might as well be.” She said seriously moving to stand in front of him. For a moment he absently wished he was attracted to women. Darcy was beautiful with her velvety dark eyes and pale skin. For a moment he thought of a flash of blonde and blue and then shoved the thought away ruthlessly. Darcy was still talking. “I think we’re almost in though. I might be able to get it if I can just have an hour alone with one of their computers.”

Loki’s mind was racing ahead. “Then we’ll go. Tonight. I’ll bring you in as a guest and we’ll try. It’ll probably go faster then you telling me what to do anyway. But this is the last try Darcy. I’m going to quit tomorrow and then I’m in the wind. If we don’t get it tonight then we’ll have to wait for at least six months before I can walk into another SHIELD job, if there are even any available in” He checked his plane ticket. “Atlanta.” 

“Loki” Her gaze was troubled and she reached out a soft hand. “What’s wrong? Something’s got you really spooked. You usually plan too well for this sort of emergency to happen.” Worry brushed against his temple. 

He collapsed on the sofa and scrubbed his face with his hands. “There’s a Sentinel. Thor Hemsworth. He’s… interested. And he wants me to get retested.” He curled a hand into his hair. “I don't think I can stop him.”

“Shit.” Darcy breathed. 

“Yeah.” He nodded bitterly. “And Darcy…” He looked up, misery etched clear on his face. “Darcy I think I’m his Guide.” They stared at each other, both at a loss of words. After a long moment Darcy just hugged him. Hard. She didn't know the full story but she knew more than anyone else. She knew enough. 

“I’m not going to see you after this am I?” Her voice was choked. “You’re really going to be gone this time aren’t you? You aren’t stopping in Atlanta. That’s probably not even your halfway point! You don’t want me to know where you’re going!”  
He clutched back at his one true friend, the only one who knew his real name. He wanted to cry but he felt like a wasteland inside. He'd felt like that since Thor had left. “No Darcy. I’m so sorry but if they come looking for me you need to be able to tell them the truth. I don’t want you going to prison for trying to protect me.” 

“You ass!” She sobbed. “You make it really hard to be your best friend!” 

He buried his nose in her hair. “I know.” He inhaled her scent and tried to memorize it. Just this once, he wished he had the Sentinel ability for smell. It would be nice to be able to memorize her completely. She smelled like candy and sandalwood.  
But Darcy was never one to cry for long and after a few minutes she pulled back and swiped at her face rebelliously. “Alright. What name do you want for your new identity? I’ll send you off with a fucking masterpiece.”

He considered for a long moment and then smiled grimly. “Gunnar Laufeyson.”

“That’s fucking morbid.” She muttered but she was already turning away to her computer. “Alright give me a few hours and we’ll give the formula one last try. I’m not letting you go without a fight!”

Loki’s characteristic razor thin smile settled on his lips. “That’s my girl.” He sat back to wait. He had a plan. He had an ally. He had an escape route. Now he just needed a Tesseract and all his problems would be solved.

~*~

She passed the ID and documents confirming his identity over to him. “There. Don’t ever say I don’t love you.” He absently noted that he had red hair this time. He kind of liked it.

“Thank you Darcy.” He smiled, feeling completely exhausted. He just wanted to go to sleep. With an effort he shook his mind back into a semblance of its former sharpness. He could sleep on the plane tomorrow.

The ride there was awkward, heavy with both hope and sorrow. Darcy parked her perky little VW Bug in the mostly empty parking lot and they headed inside. After the aged security guard checked his ID they were in with no problems. He explained away Darcy’s presence as a fellow geek who he wanted to show his new software to, adding a wink to the guard for emphasis. For her part Darcy played along winningly, smiling and giggling. They headed to the elevator, hand in hand, playing up the role. The moment the doors dinged shut however they immediately let go, dropping the other like a hot potato. “That was gross.” Darcy said.

“And weird.”

“Awkward as all get out.”

“And vaguely incestuous.” They exchanged creeped out looks.

“Alright.” Loki unlocked his office and switched the lights on. “I’m going to see if there’s anything I need to take with me. What do you need?” 

She was already settling in. “Cup of hot cocoa would be great.”

He smiled. “I’ll see what I can do.”

In the little kitchenette he fished out the packets of instant hot chocolate and waited for the water to boil. As he did he caught his eyes lingering on the counter, remembering how Thor always leaned against it and flirted while Loki made coffee or rinsed the mugs out. He gingerly reached out one pale finger and laid it against the faux marble. “Sorry Thor.” He murmured. “I just can’t be what you need.”

“LOKI!” He dropped the mug in his hand. Darcy’s cry had him tearing into the main room. What was wrong? Had she found her way in? Already? Were they in trouble?

Oh. Oh yes. Trouble was the word for it. In the doorway stood Thor. 

“Tom.” He said with a very calm, deceptive quiet. “Mind telling me what’s going on here?”

Shit. 

~*~

Something was wrong. Thor paused, chopsticks held halfway up to his mouth. He didn’t know how he knew that, he just knew. “Jane I’ve got to go.”

“What? Why?” She grinned. “Am I boring you with all my physics talk?”

“No.” He smiled. “I’m always happy to listen to you no matter what we’re talking about. I just-” He paused and clutched at his heart. “Jane something’s wrong.” Her eyes widened. 

“Thor do you think it’s Tom?”

He shot her a troubled glance of his own and grimaced, standing up and throwing down a twenty. “Probably.”

“Do you want me to go with you?” She was halfway out of her seat. 

“No it’s fine. Stay. Enjoy your meal. I’ll call you to let you know that everything’s okay.” And then, unable to wait any longer, he took off for the SHIELD office that was a mere block away. 

He tore trough the doors like a whirlwind and asked the night guard hurriedly if anyone had come in. He didn’t even know if Tom had a car so he couldn’t check the parking lot. The guard chuckled. “Oh yeaaaah. Real suave ladies man. He had a girl with him.” The old man winked. “Said he was going to show her some software. Crazy kids.” He laughed. 

He paused to thank the man and then stormed towards the elevator. Now he was angry. Tom knew they had something. He had to know. And yet he was bringing girls here? Thor would set him straight on the matter that was for sure. And then maybe he’d take the stubborn infuriating man over his knee before he gave them what they both needed. A nice thorough fuck over the arm of that couch in Tom’s office. Up ahead the door was open, warm amber light pouring into the darkened hallway and he caught Tom’s soft whisper with ears he had deliberately turned up. “I’m sorry Thor. I just can’t be what you need.”

As soon as he got rid of the little tramp he’d correct that assumption. He stormed in and pulled up short seeing a dark haired woman, younger than him and Tom, typing away on a computer fully clothed. He stared. Thor could honestly say this was not what he had expected. He cleared his throat. 

She whirled to look at him brown eyes big. “LOKI!” She yelped, a hand digging in her purse. Loki? There was someone else here? Something within him twanged at the name and he clutched one hand to his heart a little harder. In the doorway Tom appeared looking frazzled and tired, as tired as Thor himself felt after two days of not seeing the snippy man. 

“Tom” He breathed out. “Mind telling me what’s going on here?” He took a step forward and then something landed and attached itself to his chest. He looked down, saw the wires and had half a second to transfer an incredulous stare to the woman before the electrical current from the taser Darcy was holding made him pass out. 

~*~

“Darcy!” Loki scolded.

“He was freaking me out!” She defended. 

“Still.” He bent and smoothed rough blonde hair from the man’s face then bent to check his breathing and pulse. “He should be fine but we’ve got to go. Now. I don’t know how long Sentinels will stay under what with their healing factor.” He pressed two fingers to Thor's temple and shoved soothing, peaceful thoughts he didn't feel towards him. “I think I can buy us a little extra time.” Beneath him, Thor sighed and settled a little more firmly against the ground. 

“Oh shit.” Darcy paled. “I just tased a Sentinel.”

“Yes you did.”

“Oh man oh man oh man! I’m going to get in so much trouble!” 

“No you’re not.” He spoke firmly. “Because you’re coming with me. Drop me off at a CVS, I'll pick up some hair dye and supplies. You can grab anything you need from your apartment while I’m doing that. Get rid of anything incriminating. If you can direct their interest to someone else.”

She looked at him with trusting dark eyes and he repeated the sentiment. “Get your stuff. Get rid of anything important. Trust me Darcy. We’re going to be fine.”

“Okay.”

~*~

“Ugh…” Thor moaned. “Jesus what happened?” He raised his head. Slowly. Painfully. The familiar surroundings of Tom’s office came into view and he stiffened as it all came rushing back to him. Fuck. “TOM!” He yelled. Oh when he got his hands on his Guide’s infuriating, pretty little ass he was going to get it! He staggered to his feet wishing he felt less like he’d been hit over the head with a very large hammer. 

In his pocket his phone began to buzz incessantly. He pulled it out and squinted at the tiny display. 6 missed calls from Jane Foster. He answered. “Jane?” His head throbbed. 

“THOR! What the hell happened? It’s been almost two hours!” Shit. Tom would have a very good head start. 

“Tom’s gone.” He said tersely, ignoring Jane’s sharply indrawn breath. “But right now we have bigger problems. Come to SHIELD. I’ve got to call Fury.”

“I’ll be there in 5.” Jane’s voice was all business now. They said their goodbyes and hung up. He took a deep breath and called his boss. 

“Hemsworth there better be a damn good reason for you to be calling me at nine o clock at night.” Fury’s voice greeted.

“There is. Two hours ago I walked in to find my Guide and an unknown woman in the IT office. Before I could ask them any questions, the woman tased me. I don't know what they were doing but the woman was on a computer and it looked like she was looking through the office directory.” He squinted. “I think she was pulling up something in Dr. Selvig's file.” 

Over the phone Fury was silent. “Give me an hour. I’ve got to bring in some people.”

“So you know what they were doing?”

“I have a hunch. And you’re really not going to like it.”

“What else is new?” He snorted and left, heading upstairs. 

An hour later they are all assembled. Fury was there, chatting quietly with his right hand man Coulson, with his Sentinel Clint at his shoulder. Natasha was lounging, looking elegantly bored. Steve was smiling and Tony… well Tony was talking. As always. He leaned in close to his Sentinel, mouth going a mile a minute as he explained some new invention. Steve nodded gamely and smoothed a thumb over Tony’s hand that was resting on his knee when he wasn’t using it to wildly gesticulate. Thor looked away, wishing that Tom would be that open with him, wishing that Tom was there. Jane silently laid a hand on his arm in a comforting gesture.

“Alright people.” Fury began and Thor snapped to attention. While Thor was focused on Steve and Tony another man had joined them. Thor stared at him intently. There was something wrong with this man. Thor couldn’t put his finger on it yet but something wasn’t right. “This is Dr. Banner. He’s going to explain to you what exactly Hemsworth’s Guide was looking for.” The man took the floor. He walked a little bent over, compressed and hunched, as if he was trying to shield himself from a blow.  
“Hey doc!” Tony chirped and Steve hushed him. Tony mimed zipping his lips. 

Banner didn’t look in his direction just cleared his throat uncomfortably. “Um… ah. A couple years ago I was with SHIELD’s science division. We were looking for the gene that makes a Sentinel and trying to examine the bonds with Guides. Theoretically if we could figure it out we could make up a sort of vaccine that in low doses would allow a Sentinel to control their senses without a Guide. I don’t need to tell any of you that this would be extremely useful. This way a Sentinel could come online and immediately get help, then search for his Guide at his leisure. It definitely wasn’t for long term use so the Sentinel-Guide dynamic would remain intact. We called it the Tesseract formula.”

He drew in a breath. “However when we began testing we discovered that it could completely annihilate the gene. It was pretty much an all or nothing situation. In effect we had made a cure for Sentinels.” 

“But Tom isn’t a Sentinel!” Thor protested. “He’s my Guide.”

“Oh it would work on them too. They’d become completely unsuited for Guide work and those with empathic skills would lose them. The genes are really surprisingly close. It’s really quite fascinating to study-“

“That’s great.” Natasha said, not looking up from where she was examining her nails. “Why haven’t we heard of it? I know a lot of Sentinels and Guides who just want to be normal again.”

Briefly Banner’s face crumpled before he exhaled slowly and resumed a mask of professionalism. “Unfortunately when we began human trials the Guide who took it died.” His hands clenched at his side and suddenly everyone understood why he was standing alone.

“We believe,” Fury began. “That this is what Tom was looking for. We’ve had a few try to break in to get at it before but no one has ever gotten as close as he did. I’d like to know how. To do that we need to find him and his accomplice.”  
Thor spoke up, rubbing at his temples. Jesus if Tom had gotten to that vaccine… It didn’t bear thinking about. “There may have been a third person. I can’t be sure. I didn’t sense anyone but the woman yelled for a ‘Loki’ when I entered the room.”  
“And then she tased your ass!” Tony added, way too cheerfully. Across from him, Clint mimed being hit with a taser. He was really getting into it and dramatically flailing his limbs when his ankle hit Coulson's chair and he froze. Coulson turned and looked at him and Clint straightened hurriedly.

“Yes.” Thor gritted his teeth. “That would be why I can’t be sure.”

Fury was very still. “Loki? Are you sure?”

“Positive.” Thor looked up, confused. “What does that have to do with anything?”

“What does Tom look like?” Fury’s gaze was intent, his voice deadly.

“Oh come on Nick.” Clint interjected with a grin. “Thor’s preferences might as well be set in stone. Tall, green eyes, black hair. Very hipster looking.” Everyone turned to look at Clint. “What?” He said defensively. “Sif was talking about him and I got curious.”  
“Well shit.” Fury slumped.

“What is it?” Thor asked, somehow knowing that whatever Fury was going to say next would completely change his view of Tom.

“I know why Tom wanted the Tesseract. We need to call Odin.”

~*~

The hotel door opened with a soft whir-click noise and Loki slid through as soundlessly as possible. On one of the two beds Darcy was fast asleep. Her computer sat on the desk. The accompanying laminator and printer sat on the floor. Beside the computer sat their new ID’s. He reached over to pick up Darcy’s as he set the supplies down and was amused to find that she had renamed herself Elizabeth Clark. He put it down and went to stand over the sleeping girl. “I never meant for you to have to leave everything behind.” He murmured softly, brushing dark hair away from her forehead. “I of all people know how hard it is to leave everything and everyone behind.” He thought mournfully of Bylestr and Helblindi, now fourteen years dead. He didn’t even know where they were buried. 

He shook himself from his mournful thoughts and took out the box of hair dye. He needed to get started. 

`~*~  
“Father!” Thor greeted happily. “Mother!” 

“Thor.” Frigga inclined her head regally then stepped forward to hug him. “You do not come by the house near enough.” She reached up and stroked a hand through blonde locks. “A mother worries.”

He caught her hand, smiling brightly. “As soon as I have my Guide in hand I shall come for dinner and introduce you to him.”

“Oh Thor!” Frigga’s pleasure was undeniable. “I’m so happy for you!” They embraced. 

“As am I, my son.” Odin agreed slowly. “But somehow I do not think that’s why we are here.”

“Odin.” Fury maneuvered so he was within the patriarch’s sight. “You were involved in Laufey’s case fourteen years ago weren’t you?” It would have been funny under any other circumstance. They both only had one eye. There was a lot of maneuvering.  
Odin drew in a startled breath. “Have you found him? Have you found Loki?”

“Found him and then lost him again is what it’s beginning to sound like!” Tony snorted.

Fury continued as if Tony hadn’t spoken. “Loki was in search of the Tesseract formula. I was hoping you could brief the team so we know what to expect when we hunt him down.”

Odin looked as if he had aged ten years. “It is not surprising,” He began. “That Loki wants the formula. In fact I should have suspected that he’d come looking for it.” He scrubbed at his one good eye and looked ruefully towards Frigga. “There’s the clue I was missing darling.” 

“Hemsworth what exactly are we dealing with here?”

He took a deep breath. “Loki tested as a level ten empathic Guide.” There was an explosion around the table before Fury quelled it with one of his signature glares. It echoed the explosion Thor felt within himself. It didn't seem possible. Level ten guides were fairy tales. 

“But Mr. Hemsworth,” Jane said uncertainly. “I met To-Loki. He felt more like a level one if that. He just barely smelled like a Guide. It’s why I was so taken aback that Thor connected with him as deep as he had.” She sent him an apologetic glance but Thor was focused solely on Odin. 

“Father, I need to know.”

Odin nodded. “Yes son. I guess you do. Back in the 80’s your mother and I became friends with another Sentinel-Guide pair. We met them at a parenting class. At the time Frigga and Laufey were pregnant with you and Loki. We became friends and you and Loki grew up as childhood friends. We couldn’t separate the two of you. You had practically bonded to each other.” Odin spared a smile and reached into his wallet, pulling out a worn photo that he passed to Thor. It showed him as a child, sleeping sprawled beneath a tree. Another boy was curled up next to him, dark of hair and thin of frame, one limp hand resting on a book that lay on Thor’s stomach. Thor tugged at the picture and his father relinquished it without a fight. “We had high hopes that you two would bond when you were old enough.”

“That all changed when Laufey’s partner, Faubarti, was hit by a drunk driver.” Odin scrubbed at his face, old grief etched into every line. “Laufey, naturally, didn’t take it well and ended up moving out of state. You cried for days.” He added to Thor. “This next part is hard to talk about.” He admitted. “I failed them. I tried to check in with Laufey but she wouldn’t tell me where they had moved to, just that they were fine and weren’t coming back. She never let me speak to the kids, which should have set my alarms off, but I was distracted. Balder had just been born and I’m ashamed to say that I just took Laufey’s words at face value.”

“Wait, the kids?” Clint looked up. “This Loki cat has siblings? Are they all as powerful as he supposedly is?”

Odin collapsed into a chair and Frigga moved to stand behind him, holding him protectively. “Had. Loki had siblings. Two elder brothers named Helblindi and Bylestr.”

“Oh no.” Jane whispered.

“Indeed Ms. Foster. I got the call around six in the evening. I was still listed as the emergency contact you see. Laufey had never bothered to change it. Laufey had,” Odin closed his eyes. “Laufey had gutted Helblindi and Bylestr and then waited for Loki to come home. She didn’t even bother moving the bodies. It was very likely the first thing Loki saw. After that it’s a mystery. They had found some of Loki’s blood at the crime scene but not enough for a fatal wound. Loki himself was nowhere to be found.”

“Our best guess,” Odin continued grimly. “is that they had some kind of altercation and Loki escaped. After which Laufey climbed into the bathtub and slit her own throat.”

There was a long silence in the meeting room. Then Tony breathed. “Jesus.” Thor just sat with his head in his hands. 

“I’ve been looking for him for years.” A single tear trailed down Odin’s good eye. “But I’ve never found him. This whole time I just wanted to grab him and beg his forgiveness. I was selfish and arrogant to think that a severed Guide would just pick herself up and move on so easily. And that poor family paid for it. If there’s anything I can do you have my support. But for now,” Odin raised himself ponderously to his feet. “I do believe I am going to go home and have a drink.” With that he left, Frigga supporting his weary frame.

~*~

“Darcy. Darcy wake up.” Loki shook the sleeping girl gently. 

“Loki?” She asked sleepily. “Why’re you waking me up so early? Our plane isn’t till five.”

He grinned. “Sorry for interrupting your beauty sleep darling but we’ve still got to fetch you a ticket too.”

“True enough” She stretched, groaning. He waited. “Oh my god!” Ah yes. There it was. “Loki what have you done to your hair?”

“Like it?” He grinned, twirling one of his newly blonde curls from slender fingers. “I think its quite fetching.”

“You’re… cute.” She conceded reluctantly. “But you just don’t look like you anymore. You look all adorable like a baby bunny.”

“That was kind of the point dear. I’ve always kept my black hair up till now but I figured that I should take some extra measures this time given the nature of the Sentinel that’s following me. Thor doesn’t seem like the type to give up so I just have to make sure he never sees me. Then he can look all he likes. Now then.” He said briskly. “I’ve called us a cab.”

Darcy yawned again. “Why? My car’s here.”

He grimaced. “Darcy darling… there’s no easy way to say this. We have to leave the car behind.”

“WHAT?!?!” She screeched. “Leave my baby?”

He sighed. “Yes dear. What did you think we were going to do with it? It was in the parking lot last night and it’s very possible that Thor remembers every detail or that they have security cameras in the parking lot. And we certainly wouldn’t be able to take it with us on the plane. I highly doubt it could fit in the overhead compartment.”

“Alright jeez!” Darcy grumped. “I get it. It’s just hard to realize that I’m leaving everything behind.” 

“Not everything.” He said helpfully. “You’ve still got your iPod.”

“Well,” She conceded. “That’s true.” She still looked sad however so Loki stepped forward and held her in a hug. Most people assumed Loki didn’t like touching or being touched. In fact, the opposite was true. “It gets better love.” He said softly. “You’ll get new stuff, make new friends. You and me, we’re lucky. We don’t even have any family to worry about leaving behind.”

“You say lucky, I say cursed.” Darcy’s response was muffled against his chest. A small, frozen part of Loki’s heart ached.

~*~

“Shit.” He hissed, scanning the front of the airport. Darcy twitched forward a little to see what had him so riled up. At first she didn’t see anything out of the ordinary but on her second pass she saw. Standing, somewhat conspicuously still, were several people that she could only assume were Sentinels. “Sir can you take us back to the hotel?” Loki leaned forward smoothly and gave a sweetly flustered smile. “I seem to have left my ID in our room.” The taxi driver grunted but shifted back into traffic. Darcy wasn’t even sure the man could talk. All she’d heard from him was monosyllabic grunts the whole time. 

When she was sure that the man was absorbed in traffic Darcy turned towards Loki and hissed. “Well what now? We were expecting maybe one at the most not five.”

“There were seven actually.” He leaned forward and buried his head in his hands. “I’d forgotten how fast they can move if they think someone’s trying to buck the system.”

“Great. Plan B?”

Loki lifted his head, green eyes already moving ahead. “They’ll know that we haven’t checked in so they’ll start pursuing other exits. They’ve likely already told the police and Sentinel forces to be on the lookout for our car so that’s out.” He was silent for a long moment and then began to grin, pure mischief condensed into one flash of teeth. “Darcy darling here’s my card. Buy us some Amtrak tickets. Use as many of my past aliases you can remember and get them for several different cities. I’ll start booking the Greyhound.” She held the flimsy piece of plastic uncertainly. “Uh Lo? That’s gonna be like super expensive.”

Loki was already taking out his iPad, hipster that he was. “Don’t worry about it.” He said distractedly. “I’ve been saving money for years. Granted this is probably going to tap me out but it’s fine.”

A few minutes later he looked up again. “Excuse me sir but my friend and I have gotten rather hungry. Would you mind dropping us off at the nearest Starbucks?”

Darcy wrinkled her nose in distaste. “Starshmucks you mean?”

“Darcy don’t be snide. And anyway” He lowered his voice. “It just occurred to me that they might already be at the hotel. I need caffeine to keep outmaneuvering them. Ergo Starbucks.”

“Fine.” Darcy sulked. “But for the record you are such a stereotype.”


	2. Chapter 2

Thor inhaled deeply. They had definitely been here. He grabbed a pillow from the mussed bed. Only one looked disturbed and oh that pissed him off. When he caught up to them he was going to make it very clear to Tom/Loki that the man was his. He paused and sniffed the pillow again. There was only one scent on it, female. He paused and looked at the other bed again. Now that he was really looking he could see faint signs it had been slept in. The other man was just incredibly tidy. The corners had even been tucked back in even though the maid swore up and down that she hadn't been in here yet and he could smell no trace of her. Was it tidiness? Or was it fear? Did Loki erase his presence wherever he went? The thought hurt his gut. Loki was not made to live as a ghost. 

He discarded the first pillow and picked one up off the other bed. Mmm yes. There it was. Loki scent. The man had an appetizing, clean smell that was incredibly distinctive. His Guide had a hell of a sweet tooth. The very first thing he smelled was the cloying smell of sugar. It was offset by something sharp, something he couldn't quite name but reminded him of winter. He moaned and burrowed his head deeper in the pillow. Tony slapped the back of his head playfully. “Focus man. You can smell him some other time.” Right. Not alone. 

“Shut up.” Thor grunted. “You don’t know what it’s like.”

“You’re right. I wonder if Steve was this creepy when he was waiting for me to say yes. It’s kind of cute in a stalkery way.” Tony pursed his lips. 

Thor ignored Tony and kept perusing the room, pillow tucked loosely under one arm. There wasn’t anything left behind that might tip him off to where they were going, his Loki was much too smart for that, but an ID was left on the desk. A pointed statement. Behind him, Tony answered his phone and Thor let his animated tones wash over him without really listening. He picked up the discarded remnants of Tom Hiddleston and ached. It was so easy for Loki to discard the faces he wore? What about the people he left behind? Did he ever think about them? Thor didn’t know. 

“Hey,” Tony spoke up. “They think Loki may be trying to leave the country. I’m headed to the airport to see if I can help Steve feel him out. You coming with?”

“No.” Thor said slowly. “No I don’t think he’ll be there. And if you’ve already got Sentinels there then it doesn’t matter.”

“Well then where are you going?” 

“Recon. Loki’s smart and I don't know him as well as I'd like. I’m going to let him make his moves and see what his plan of attack is. In the meantime I think I’ll investigate his and the girl’s apartment. They’re doing well for people who put this together in one night. But I’m betting that they didn’t have time to completely clear their homes like they did the hotel room.”

“That’s… a really good idea.” Tony gaped at him and Thor smiled tightly. Sometimes people forgot that just because he was big didn’t mean he was stupid. That was fine. It made it easier to arrest them. 

~*~

He started with Loki’s. He was too starved for his Guide to do anything else. The overwhelming need to be close to him, to surround the thin man and cradle him, touch him, love him was driving him a little crazy. For a brief moment, he'd known where Loki worked. He could find him with a reasonably small amount of finagling and he could have easily gotten Loki's address. Now Loki was gone and Thor had no clue how to find him.

Loki’s apartment was spartan, minimalistic. And yet it was Loki’s. Thor somehow just knew that Loki preferred everything to have a place, preferred a stark, clean style. He wandered from room to room taking in the scraps of knowledge about Loki’s life, longing to know his Guide in a deeper and more intimate way that Loki had denied him. He started with the kitchen, a marvel in stainless steel appliances. Loki liked to cook. He had nearly every conceivable tool for a kitchen, all in cold stainless steel. He opened the refrigerator and found neatly stacked Tupperware containers with dates written in dry erase marker. He took out the most recent one and discovered that it was a lemon chicken and rice concoction. He popped it in the microwave, eager to taste his Guide’s cooking but he put it in for too long and wandered off to investigate the living room and the container melted. He growled. There was a reason Thor subsisted on take out and food his mother brought over. He was absolutely hopeless in the kitchen.  
He tossed the mess into the trash bin and took out the next container, making sure to put it on a plate. This time he had more success and stood at Loki’s counter, blissfully consuming a cranberry-brie salmon patty. When he had Loki back the man would cook for him every night. He’d have to buy a suitable apron.

With that happy thought Thor carefully washed the few dishes he’d used and set them to dry on the rack next to the sink. He wouldn’t endear himself to Loki if he left dirty dishes behind. Next he went through the cupboard finding a variety of high class items and a large amount of sweets. He carefully noted the brands and then moved on. 

The bathroom was just as neat as the rest, decorated in a dull charcoal. Fluffy, luxurious green towels hung from a bath rack. He fingered one and lost a few moments thinking about how soft they were, how nice they'd feel against Loki's skin. He scented Loki’s shampoo and conditioner before moving on. Now he knew why the man had such soft hair. 

The bedroom took Thor’s breath away. It was obvious that this was the one room that was tailored solely to Loki, the one that he had made his. The bed was dark, varnished wood with a thick green comforter. A dark throw was thrown over the corner and matching pillows were neatly lined up at the head of the bed. The rest of the room was surrounded with bookshelves and a small tucked away door led to a walk in closet. Thor took one of the numerous scarves and wrapped it around his throat then brought it up to his face and inhaled. Yes. Loki.

He moaned and backed towards the bed. He stretched himself out atop the rich comforter and held the scarf to his nose. The bed was sinfully soft. His Guide’s bed. Loki’s smell surrounded him. His cock twitched. Thor cursed softly. He shouldn’t be doing this, should be looking for papers, hints about Loki. But he was so lonely, and so tired of being lonely, that he couldn’t help himself. Just for a moment, he promised himself. Just a quick, little fantasy. Something to tide him over so that he could think with a clear head. He was already lost and he knew it.

_Loki was in the kitchen, chopping some vegetables. Thor crept up behind him, pushed his nose into Loki’s neck where his bonding mark would be. Loki would smell delightfully of him, the scent of pine and storm mixing with cold sweetness flawlessly. The man would murmur a protest but they would both know it was half hearted at best, his scent betraying him. Thor would lure him to their bed, cover the laughing man with his body. Loki’s eyes, so green, would smile up at him and Thor would kiss the soft corners of his mouth and then unravel the man until he was flushed and sweaty, gasping for breath._  
He was close. Thor’s hand moved quicker and his fantasy began to unravel into flashes. Taking Loki, hearing his sweet moans. Blowing him, long fingers entwined in his hair. Loki taking him. Kissing him, loving him, pleasuring him. Yes. Loki. Mine. He came with a long low groan. Soon.

~*~

After erasing the evidence of his indiscretion Thor moved on to try the woman’s apartment. They’d picked up her car in the surveillance photos of the Office’s parking lot and when Thor had searched it at the hotel he’d found her address easily. This Darcy Lewis was nowhere near as polished as Loki was. If there was a mistake it’d probably be here. Ruefully, he admitted to himself that going to Loki’s apartment was a waste of time. All he’d done was give the man more time to get away. Loki, he thought with a frown, was much too good at running away. It made him wonder how many other cities he’d left, made him wonder if there were other Sentinels out there wondering where their own Tom had vanished to. He shook the thoughts off irritably. It didn’t matter. Those Sentinels didn’t matter because Loki was Thor’s. And he would catch him and never let him go. 

The first thing he noticed was the empty desk, a dust outline showing where the computer had been. It made him frown and wonder resentfully just how busy those two had been while he’d been lying in the Office, tased and miserable. He slouched into her chair with a sigh and opened the first desk drawer. Bills and college papers it looked like. Something about politics. He hated politics. All slippery words and meaningless promises. None of them were ever meant to be kept. Loki, he determined, probably loved politics. The second drawer held a wide variety of baby naming books. Interesting. The third was locked. He grinned, took hold of it firmly and wrenched. 

A screeching sound and a veritable storm of little plastic rectangles exploded out of the drawer. He plucked one up off the ground and turned it over. “Oh I see.” Thor breathed softly. “Well aren’t you an enterprising woman Ms. Lewis?” He slid his phone out of his back pocket. “Jane. You’ll never believe it but I just caught a break in our case while I was looking for Loki. You had best come on over.”

~*~

“K.” Darcy sneezed. “I booked ‘em. Now what?” 

Loki carefully folded the case over his precious Ipad. It was one of the first truly frivolous things he'd bought after he worked himself into the city and he was fond of it. “As have I.” He got up and began counting out bills carefully. “Now I’m going to fetch myself another latte and then we’re going to catch another cab.”

“Where are we going this time?” She huffed and rolled her eyes but deep down she had to admit this was kind of exciting. Running from the law, fugitives born from desperation, bucking the system. It was like an action movie!  
“An Enterprise or a Hertz. I really have no preference.” He paid the boy behind the counter coolly. 

“Oh Loki you fiend!” She breathed in admiration. “That’s brilliant. But wait-“ Her brow furrowed. “Won’t they know? I’m sure they’re probably monitoring our accounts by now. We should have hit some ATM's this morning.”  
Loki laughed. “That, my dear, is why we pay in cash. It's also why I only keep my bill paying money in my bank account. The rest is stashed.”

She sniffed doubtfully. “Can you even pay in cash anymore? I didn’t think that was a thing.” She wanted to ask about the apparently secret money stash but she didn't think he'd tell her and she wasn't in the mood to play word games.  
“Oh yes.” He said. “You’d be surprised. All I need is a bill from my home address and a verifiable phone number and we’re golden. I’ve done this a few times my dear.”

“Yeah yeah.” She muttered. “Loki, mischief maker and Sentinel ducker.” 

“And don’t you forget it. Now sit back and watch me work my magic.”

Loki strolled into the rental store as if he owned the place. Confidence was key and he made sure to project an aura of honesty and self-assurance as he went. It had been a long time since he’d stretched his abilities but they were coming alive like magic beneath his hands. He felt good. He was superior to all these pathetic worker drones. If he wanted to he could make them worship him like a king. Or a god. 

He strode up to a “Bill” and smiled his most charming smile. “I’d like to rent a car please.” He made sure to tone down the refined accent his voice normally held, trying to keep it as unremarkable as possible. “And I’d like to pay in cash.”

The man blinked stupidly. “Ah… I’ll have to check with my manager. I’m not even sure if we take cash anymore.” 

Loki’s smile grew slightly brittle. “I checked on your website. It says that all I need is a current bill and a phone number you can reach me at.” Stupid cards, making everything traceable. He hated the damn things. He withdrew a bill from his coat pocket and soothed its folded lines down. His fingers worried at a corner. 

“Still…” The man was clearly reluctant. Loki’s patience snapped. There was a clock in the room and he could hear it ticking away. His window of opportunity was narrowing and he would not let this drone narrow it further. 

He caught the man’s eye and ramped up his gift. “You don’t need to check with your manager. You believe me. Give me a car.” The man blinked dazedly. Another worker dropped her pen but forgot to pick it up. 

“Yknow on second thought I remember it saying something like that in our TOS. If I could just get your information Sir and I’ll start processing your paperwork.” His fingers went to his keyboard as he waited obediently for Loki's input. 

Loki’s smile was oily and insincere, strained by power and worry. “Thank you Bill. I’d appreciate that greatly.” Finally. Things were going his way at last. 

~*~

Jane strode through the door. “Thor wha-“ She stopped and took a deep sniff. “What is that smell?” Thor looked up from where he’d been examining the various ID’s left scattered across the floor. 

“What smell?” He sniffed the air absently but he could only smell plastic and leftover curry. Damn. He was hungry again. 

“I- it smells wonderful.” 

Understanding hit like a bolt of lightning. “Jane! This woman must be your Guide!” He grinned widely. “How fortuitous that we should hunt our Guides together!” He swept her up in a hug and she laughed gaily, brown hair swirling about her head.

“My Guide, my Guide!” She chanted, ecstatic. “After all this time! Oh I wonder what she’s like? Do you think she’ll want to look up at the stars with me?”

“I do not see how she couldn’t.” He answered back solemnly. “She was made for you just as my Loki was made for me. A perfect match.” 

“Oh.” Jane breathed softly. “a perfect match.” Her eyes shone and for a moment they just stood there, rejoicing. But there was work to be done and their Guides were missing so it was only a moment. He gently set Jane down and looked away as she wiped at her eyes and stole a couch cushion to cuddle with. 

“Jane it would seem that your Guide has just as much a penchant for trouble as Loki does.” He slid one ID across the table. “That ring of fake ID cards we’ve been trying to bust? Doesn’t look like it’s a ring. I think it may just be this one woman. Ms. Darcy Lewis has been helping Guides leave the country.” 

“How enterprising of her.” Jane answered dreamily. 

“Jane!” He snapped. “Focus!”

She glanced at him sheepishly. “Right. Sorry.” She cleared her throat. “What should we do?” A worried look crossed her face. “Darcy wouldn't get jail time for this would she?”

Thor scoffed. “Not if they want to keep their best team on the East Coast. I’ve already informed SHIELD. Fury says that he wants to “talk” to her so she’s getting brought in with Loki.”

Jane growled. “He’s not laying a finger on her!” 

“No no not like that Jane.” He soothed. “You know I wouldn’t let him hurt her. He said he isn't interested in pressing charges.” She relaxed marginally. “To be honest I think he wants to offer her a job. Now that she’s a Guide he’ll definitely want to offer her a job.”

“Good.” Jane answered firmly. “So how do we find them?” 

As if by fate that was the moment Thor’s cell began to ring. “It’s SHIELD.” He flipped the phone open hurriedly. “Yes?... Yes?.... The train station?... Why would he go to Nebraska?... Well that is true… Okay good work. Thank you.” He flipped the phone closed. They’ve booked train tickets. They’re on the 2:20 to Lincoln.” At last. Things were finally going his way. 

~*~

Loki and Darcy were not on the 2:20 to Lincoln. Nor were they on the 4:30 to Chicago or the 7:00 to Orlando. Or any of the other rides they'd booked. But he'd let the Sentinels figure that one out on their own. At the moment they were driving down the Interstate with vague plans to go somewhere “fun”, as Darcy put it, or somewhere “safe” for Loki. Thus far they had agreed to at least stop in Atlanta then maybe New Orleans and ooh Vegas Loki! He was a little concerned about Darcy’s plans to make him use his empathy and win big. He didn’t quite know how to tell her that it didn’t work that way. Vegas could work, he mused privately. It had a certain reputation and it was big enough. 

For a Guide on the run there was a very specific set of criteria in choosing the next city to hide in. Small towns were out. Most of them had at least one bonded pair and they’d sniff out outsiders in a heartbeat and “thoughtfully” help escort them to the nearest SHIELD office. And even if you could hide in plain sight like Loki could small towns were an enemy. An outsider was always noticed. Always. 

The whole state of Washington was out. That was SHIELD’s countrywide HQ. They had the best trackers, equipment and facilities in part because of the genius of Head Guide Blair Sandburg. If you were caught in Washington the jig was up. So Oregon and Idaho were also out. Too close. Not that he wanted to go to Idaho. What the fuck was in Idaho? 

Finally a runway wanted to avoid military cities. Some thought that they’d be the best place to vanish, considering the rapid turnover in population. They were wrong. There were more Sentinels and what was worse was that there were more wounded Sentinels. Soldiers came back from war senses online and ready to go. In addition since people moved in and out so often you never quite managed to blend into the woodwork. You were always new to someone. It was one of the worst areas to try and hide in. Many an amateur runaway were caught there. Loki was no amateur. 

Vegas could be interesting. It had the glitz and glam that Loki liked and he was certain that there was room for an empathic card dealer in the casino ranks. He’d ditch the car in New Orleans. Remy owed him a favor. He could get another car from him. Plans planned he settled back into the drivers seat and let the hum of the engines take him far from New York. 

~*~

It was 2:20. Loki was not here. He wanted to tear his hair out but he settled on pacing like a great golden lion. Back and forth. Back and forth. His phone rang. “What?” He barked into it, aware he sounded frazzled and not caring. Where was Loki?! 

“Ah…” The voice at the other end was hesitant. “We just found another ticket. This one’s for the Greyhound.” Thor was already headed to the car. “He leaves on the 6:10 to Boise.” And so it went. Thor spent the day scurrying from bus to train. None had Loki aboard. 

“Thor,” Jane’s voice was soft and achingly sympathetic. “They’re not going to be on the bus or the train. All you’re doing is exhausting yourself.”

“I have to check Jane.” He gritted his teeth. “What if he’s on the last one? What if I give up and miss him? I have to check. I have to know.” 

There was a long silence. “Alright Thor.” She was quiet. “I’m going to head back to base and see if I can dig anything up electronically. I’ll call if I find something.” 

“Okay.” She left and he let his head thunk forward onto the steering wheel. “I will find you Loki.” He whispered. “I will.”

~*~

6 Months later  
Las Vegas  
The Hellfire Club and Casino

Loki patrolled the floor casually, wading through a mass of excited emotions and slot machine noises, a bruiser at his side. He’d already caught two hoping to buck the system and he was hoping to make it five by shift’s end. After six months of working in Hellfire his routine was well established, his reputation impeccable. It wasn’t quite what he’d been looking for when he first came to Vegas but the pay was phenomenal and Loki derived a vicious sort of satisfaction from watching would be scammers get thrown on their asses. A few months ago he had even busted a Sentinel who was using his enhanced senses to watch the pit bosses and tell who had the best hand. That remained, to this day, Loki’s favorite take down. He sighed happily. 

A wisp of emotion interrupted his reminiscence and he frowned turning his head back and forth, trying to catch it. Beside him the aptly named Azazel tensed. “Another?” Loki frowned and pushed harder, searching it out. Whoever it was, they were good. He couldn't quite latch on. “I don’t think so.” He answered the red skinned man absently. “Different emotions than I usually get from scammers.” He paused a moment more but the feeling vanished completely. “Whatever it is it’s gone now.” He smiled absently at the other man. “Probably just a drunk or a junkie. They can have some odd emotional sensations.” 

“Hmm.” Azazel still looked tense. He shifted the muscles of his back and flexed his jaw. Next to him, a tourist turned away from her slot machine to gape. He supposed a 6 foot red mutant was novel to the small minded. “You are sure?”

“I’ll keep an ear open.” He offered. “But whoever they are, I don’t think they’re here anymore. I can't feel them at all. Now come on. There’s a business man on table five we need to bust. It’s his first time. Be gentle.”

“Very well.” Azazel rumbled. “I will only threaten to break one of his fingers. You can imply that I'm a demon from hell and would like to eat him.”

They had a beautiful friendship.

~*~

“Thor!” Jane scurried down the busy aisle and ran smack into the other man. 

“Whoa Jane.” He laughed and steadied her with one large hand, the other holding his coffee cup. “Not so fast.”

She shoved at him impatiently. “Not now. They’ve found him!” There was no need to ask who “he” was. Thor was instantly at attention.

“Where?”

“He’s in Vegas. An agent who’s been staking out a casino spotted him. It’s being investigated for possible mutant trafficking by MCIS but they’ve agreed to let us take Loki out. They don’t think he’s involved but they think Loki almost got one of their agents caught the other day so they want to remove him from the scene.” Her voice was breathless as the news spilled out. 

“Great.” Thor’s smile was blinding. “I will procure us plane tickets.” After six months, they'd both started to lose a little hope. 

“No need to Sunshine!” Tony strolled into the room. “Why? Because someone has a private plane? That someone? Me.” 

Thor frowned. “Tony there’s no need to-”

“Zip it big guy. The MCIS agent we’re meeting up with has been my BFF since birth. I’m going. Now you can A) come with me and enjoy all the amenities of my private plane or B) stick it out through layovers and cramped seats in commercial. What’s it going to be?” He opened and closed his palm in a “gimme” motion to them. 

Thor and Jane exchanged glances then she spoke up. “So long as there are no strippers for flight attendants. I’ve heard about the strippers Tony and it’s not on my wish list.”

He looked affronted. “Please. I have Steve now. If anyone’s stripping on our plane it’s me.”

Thor choked. 

~*~

“Charles!”

“Tony!”

The two men hugged enthusiastically and then instantly began talking over one another.

“Is this-?”

“Yeah this is Steve-“

“Your Sentinel. It is lovely to- Oh Tony! This is Erik! Erik’s my-“

“Soul mate. Yeah I heard. Did you see the-“

“Of course I did the Stark Expo was magnificent this year. I do have questions about the viability of several aspects-“

Meanwhile Erik and Steve were surveying each other guardedly. At last Steve stuck out a hand. “Steve Rogers. It’s nice to meet you.”

Erik gripped the hand shortly before releasing it. Neither of them smiled at each other. “Erik Lensherr.” Introductions dispensed with they turned and surveyed their respective partners. “Is yours always like this?” Erik asked. 

“Always.” Steve agreed. “And yours?”

“Never shuts up.”

Not another word was spoken between the two. Off to the side Thor leaned over to Jane and muttered “I feel like a third wheel.” 

“Totally.” She muttered back. 

Eventually the chatter wound down enough that Erik and Steve could intervene and everyone bundled into the MCIS SUV and headed back to the field office. Somehow Steve and Erik got driver's seat and shotgun and Thor ended up in the back. Life was unfair. Thankfully the drive was relatively short and soon enough they were all ensconced in a private briefing room at MCIS. Thor surreptitiously stretched his legs out beneath the table. Tony and Charles ignored the briefing altogether. 

“We’ve been investigating the business owner of the Hellfire Club and Casino for two years now. On the surface, Sebastian Shaw is clean. No mob connections, no money laundering. Not even drugs. But we suspect that he’s running a large scale mutant and arms trafficking ring. A source from within the Mexican Mafia has seen several of Shaw’s acquaintances traveling back and forth.” He clicked a button on the computer and several photos showed up on the projector. “The blonde is Emma Frost, a strong telepath. Before you go in we’ll have Charles hide our meeting. Officially you came here on your own and have never met with MCIS. You can have your memories back after you’re out. The red guy is Azazel, teleporter, and the Hispanic male is “Riptide”. Ability unknown.”

Erik sat back and steepled his fingers. “Loki’s working as a sort of cheating detector for the casino. He ferrets out the liars and Azazel tosses them out. At this time we have no reason to think that he’s anymore involved then that although we do want Charles to rifle through his mind before he goes. Any knowledge on Shaw will be well used.” He grinned and Thor was abruptly reminded of a shark. “Ordinarily we’d wait until we took Shaw down to alert you but Loki picked up Charles last night. Shaw is already too careful. I don’t want to see what he’s like when he knows we’re on his tail.”

“Do what you need to.” Thor growled. “I don’t care. Loki is the only thing that matters.” Charles eyed him a little wistfully as he approached and Thor had a half second to wonder why before-

~*~

Thor pulled up outside of the Hellfire Club and Casino almost vibrating with excitement. He was so close! Really he was all in favor of a little chase before catching his prize but six months was ridiculous. He grinned a little foolishly, unable to be angry. His Guide was so sneaky. It was just pure luck that Warrick had seen him. 

A beautiful, statuesque blonde met him at the door. Her expression could have curdled milk. “Can I help you sugar?” Bizarrely, he felt like she already knew why he was here. 

“Ah yes.” Thor tried to keep his voice low, aware of how much he stood out in his jeans and plaid overshirt. “I’m Sentinel Hemsworth and I think one of your workers is my Guide, Loki St. Lawrence.”

She tilted her head, blue eyes cold. “We don’t employ anyone with that name here.”

His manners kept him polite but the pretty woman’s scorn was beginning to wear on him. “He’s on the run. He’s not going to use his real name.” He pulled out a picture and offered it to her. “This is him.” She took it but didn't bother looking down at it.  
“What information led you to believe that we’re in the business of sheltering runaways Sentinel Hemsworth?” She still hadn't looked at the picture. Now he was sure that she knew what he was doing here and who he was looking for. 

“A vacationing Sentinel saw him here.” He answered shortly. “Miss-?”

“Frost.” She supplied. 

“Miss Frost it is a crime to impede a searching Sentinel. Please step aside.” Her eyes narrowed into ice blue slits but she did as she was told and with a deep breath he opened his senses and stepped into Hellfire.

~*~

Jane knocked on the unassuming door to Apartment 302, almost vibrating with excitement. While Thor had chosen to confront Loki at his workplace, she felt that the best place to introduce herself to Darcy was on her home turf. Hopefully that way she’d feel secure and calm and then maybe she’d let Jane hold her a little. Privately she thought that Thor just wanted an excuse to run the other man down and pin him. Thor enjoyed that kind of thing. There was just no rational reason to try and catch a painfully slippery man in a crowd full of people. 

“Yeah?” The younger woman’s voice was irritated and she didn't open the door. 

“Darcy Lewis?” She called. “My name is Jane Foster. I’m from SHIELD-“

“Shit!” Darcy yelped and on the other side two more locks engaged. “GO AWAY!” Her voice was farther away now. Jane lifted her hearing level. There was a clattering of keys. Darcy was muttering to herself. “Shit shit shit! Do ID’s fit down the toilet? Should I throw them out the window? Shit she can probably hear this! Oh we are so screwed!” Her voice was close to a wail.

Jane knocked again. “Darcy I’d just like to talk. You don’t need to panic.” Down the hall, an old woman with a little lapdog gave her the stinkeye. She tried to smile reassuringly and knocked again. “Really I'd just like to come in and sit down for a while.”  
“Yeah right!” She yelled back. “I’m not giving Loki up. The first sign of a totalitarian police state is the trampling of individual rights. I live in America, not Russia! Come back with a warrant.”

Okay. Admittedly she hadn’t been prepared for this. “Can we not do this through the door? We’re on the fourth floor. There’s no where for you to go and all I want to do is talk to you for a bit anyway. I’ll leave afterward if that’s what you want.”  
The frantic shuffling stopped and soft footsteps padded closer to the door. “Do you promise?” Darcy’s voice was deeply suspicious. Jane put on her most earnest expression and nodded hopefully. “Okay but I have my taser and I’m warning you I will use it. You can ask your buddy.” The locks disengaged and finally, finally, Jane got to see her Guide for the first time outside of pictures. 

Jane was in love. Darcy was adorably, stylishly geeky and in her pajamas. The soft pink bottoms had cartoon kittens rolling around with a ball of yarn and the white tank top smoothly highlighted her shapely figure. She was beautiful.

“Hi.” Jane grinned nervously. 

“Hey.” Darcy greeted back. “So like are you going to come in or is Mrs. Burkowitz going to hear our whole conversation?”

“Yeah okay!” She really needed to work on keeping a lid on her excitement. This was getting a bit embarrassing. 

The interior was small and shabby but overall still cozy. The most expensive thing in the room was the laptop and laminating machine on a rickety desk. The beige couch had definitely seen better days as had the desk chair with a duct tape x on the headrest. But everything was clean and comfortable. Jane settled herself on the couch and just basked for a second.

“Uh sorry for implying that you were a member of a totalitarian police state with no respect for Loki’s personal liberties.” Darcy’s voice was awkward. 

“That’s alright.” Jane smiled at her. She’d been doing that a lot. “Come sit down?” 

“Okay.” Darcy edged her way around a pile of textbooks in the center of the floor. From the looks of it she’d been studying when Jane knocked. “Loki’s not here yknow. In fact,” She added rebelliously. “I haven’t seen him in months. He totally ditched me and left.”

Jane grinned fondly. “I can tell that you’re lying you know. And I’m not here for Loki anyway.” Holding her breath, she reached out and took Darcy’s hand. “I’m actually here for you.” 

Darcy’s look was skeptical. “Why me?”

“Um well…” Jane blushed. “You’re my Guide.” 

“I think you’ve got the wrong person.” Darcy's voice was dismissive and she turned away. Jane’s heart fell.

“No really! Have you ever been tested?”

The other woman turned back to her, dark eyes troubled. “Well no. There was always a line and if I wanted to wait in a line I’d rather be waiting for something I actually wanted.” Jane’s heart sank further.

“Sorry!” Darcy hurried to explain. “I didn’t mean it like that! I’m such a word klutz! I just mean it seems awfully inconvenient and my life’s goal isn’t really to follow some muscle, hide bound cop all day. Not that there’s anything wrong with that-“

“I’m an astrophysicist first and a cop second.” Jane interrupted quietly. “They only call me in if there's a Sentinel specific issue. There are pretty specific limitations on my role in the field. And we don’t have to bond right this second. I just wanted to see you.”  
“Oh wow really?” Darcy goggled for a second. “Wow. Astrophysics. Can't say I know a lot about that. Maybe I'm the dumb one. Well yeah I suppose that’s okay. Yknow if we’re just talking and stuff.”

They smiled at each other, a little awkward, but hopeful too.

~*~

If Loki hadn’t been distracted by the drunk man crying he would have sensed the Sentinel a lot sooner. As it was he was listening to the third run through about his wife (She left him, mid life crisis. Boring.) when he looked up and caught Thor’s sky blue eyes. Thor immediately started towards him with a happy grin. Loki panicked. 

He was, he’d later admit, not at his best. Loki thrived on plans, on being given time to prepare. If you gave him a week he was good. If you gave him a month, he was unbeatable. Here he’d had six months but he’d foolishly assumed that Thor wasn’t coming, that he hadn’t left anything behind. That, he grimly acknowledged, was obviously a mistake. 

He got up, shoving the man off his shoulder. “You’re pathetic. Maybe that’s why your wife left. Grow a pair and stop sobbing like a child on the casino floor.” Then he whirled and ran. He didn’t run towards the door. When a Sentinel was chasing you it wasn’t necessarily the quickest way that was best. They were generally larger, faster and better trained. They’d take you down within seconds. No the key to defeating a Sentinel and living to see another day free was to take the noisiest and smelliest route possible. Loki ran towards the slot machines, located across the room. There was a bar on that side with an employee entrance behind it. He could leave through there… and then what? Out the alley? Down the street. Not back to the apartment, they probably already had people there. Shit he hadn’t even begun to replenish his emergency fund. What could he do? Where could he go? 

A worker was passing with a silver tray full of chips. He knocked it out of her hands, enjoying the clack-crack of chips hitting the floor and the reverberating sound of the silver tray. His adrenaline was pumping now and he immediately cast off all his doubts and worries. Escape now, plan later. He could do that. A small animal shivered into existence next to him, brought out by the Sentinel’s closeness and his own emotions. He heard Thor yelling at him, asking him to stop, before the sound abruptly cut off. He grinned victoriously. He’d bet dollars to donuts that Thor had just been caught in a zone by the chips. Beside him the little gray fox yipped disapprovingly but he ignored it with the ease of long practice. He’d done a lot of things that his spirit guide disapproved of. 

He burst through the back of the bar into the cool night air. The alley stunk. Trash pickup wasn’t due till tomorrow. He paused, considering and then a second later threw himself under the dumpster. It stank to high heaven and he was probably getting all sorts of disgusting things on his uniform but that didn’t really matter now. “Get in here!” He hissed. The fox looked down its long nose at him disdainfully. He puffed out a breath irritably and looped a long arm out to draw it in. “Why couldn’t you be a puppy?” He complained to it softly. “Or an insect?” It bared its teeth and nipped at his fingers. 

He stilled when the bar door opened with a soft squeal, the hinges protesting the movement. Heavy footsteps strolled past him, followed by huge paws that only a few people could see. He kept his breathing slow and soft and briefly wished that he could stop his heart from beating out of his chest. The footsteps stopped a little bit away from where he was hiding, almost to the opening of the alley. Beyond it, the Vegas lights glimmered and the mass of humanity chattered but here all was quiet. Thor turned, his booted feet making a soft swish. “Where are you Loki?” He asked softly. “I know you haven’t left.” Thor couldn’t possibly know that. His hearing had to be turned down after that coin incident and Loki's breathing was almost nonexistent. “Your scent doesn’t reach the street.” Damn. Damn damn damn. He should have kept running. “Won’t you please come out?” Where were his plans? What were his options? He howled mentally and the fox watched him with steady dark eyes. 

“Fine!” He hissed at it. “Fine!” He let go and the fox trotted out with a happy bark, waving its tail. Traitor. He wriggled out with considerable less grace. A large hand filled his vision but he ignored it. He was still Loki. Also he smelled awful. He didn't particularly want to touch anything until he could take a shower.

Belatedly, Azazel puffed into the alley. “Gunnar! Are you alright?” The red mutant took in the sight. Loki on his knees, in the process of getting up, and Thor with one hand held out, a soft look in his eyes. “Ah…”

Thor straightened and turned away from Loki. “Sentinel Hemsworth. It’s nice to meet you.” He shook the other man’s hand heartily but the whole while his body was turned ever so slightly towards Loki. If he wanted to run, the stance implied, he wouldn’t get very far. Loki stayed put. He knew when he was beaten. Beside Thor, a large lion yawned indolently.

“Nice to meet you as well.” Azazel replied warily.

“I’ll be taking Loki now. He’s my Guide. I finally caught up to him.” He laughed and ran a hand through his hair. Loki snarled and discarded his worker’s vest before throwing it into the dumpster. 

“Azazel please offer Sebastian my apologies and tender my resignation.” Azazel nodded seriously and left. He appreciated that. He didn’t think he could take any congratulations or concern. 

They were left alone. The lion sat back to clean its paw and his fox sniffed at it curiously and then sneezed. “Ready to go home?” Thor’s voice was soft but his eyes were as sharp as the lion’s teeth.

“Like you’d give me any other choice.” He spat bitterly. 

“You’re right.” He reached out and grasped Loki’s wrist. “I wouldn’t.”

~*~

“This is mine.” Thor spoke up for the first time since leaving the alley. He moved to put a hand on Loki’s lower back to steer him but Loki stepped away. The man eyed the car disdainfully and then sniffed. The message was clear.  
He found himself grinning. “Aye it’s a soulless little box of a car. But it’s just a rental.” He opened the door and his Guide folded himself in, long legs sliding gracefully into the car. He wondered if Loki had always been that graceful. Perhaps he’d been a gawky, awkward teen who had been all elbows and knees. It was an amusing image. He’d be sure to ask some day when Loki didn’t smell like garbage. 

He folded his own body into the car, grumbling when his head hit the doorframe. Loki snickered. The car hummed to life with a near inaudible murmur and he sighed. He missed his Jeep. And the SUV. He missed anything that gave him the luxury of space.  
Loki frowned as they turned, heading away from the airport and the highway that would take them back home. “Thor? Where are we going?” He lost some of his spite when he was curious. 

“We just have to make a quick stop.” Thor murmured soothingly. “I know you probably want to get clean but this will just take a few minutes I promise.”

“That doesn’t answer my question!” He snapped peevishly. 

“I had some help in finding you.” Thor admitted reluctantly. “We’re going to MCIS.” 

Loki’s eyes widened. “The mutant police? Why?” His eyes narrowed. “Don’t answer that. Stupid question. This is about Sebastian Shaw. Isn’t it?”

He nodded. Loki gave a disgusted sigh and sat back. “They can ask but I don’t know anything worthwhile. Sebastian Shaw is no fool. I’ve only been there six months!”

They hit a stop light and Thor turned to look at the green eyed man next to him. “So you observed nothing at all? You’re clever Loki. Too clever. You don’t need to be taken into Shaw’s confidence to know things. You would be” He admitted. “An excellent spy. I don’t believe you at all when you say you don’t know anything.”

Loki conceded the point with a wry twist of his lips. “Well maybe I know a few things.”

“I thought you might.”

~*~

Back at MCIS they met up with the short telepath and his surly metal bending friend. Darcy and Jane were already back and Loki immediately crossed the room to her, ignoring Charles’ attempts at a friendly greeting. Thor smiled apologetically to the man and went after his Guide.

Loki was seething, bringing to mind a hopping mad cat, glaring at Jane and firing rapid questions to Darcy about what had happened and if she was okay. Darcy answered the first wave with remarkable aplomb but when the questions began to repeat Darcy snapped out “Loki! If you want to ask me questions then actually listen to the answers I’m giving you!” Startled he properly looked at her for the first time, green eyes wide. He was adorable. Thor wanted to cuddle him. He refrained. 

“Loki,” He took hold of the slighter man. “If we could just get the questioning out of the way? Ms. Lewis will be on the plane back to New York with us. You’ll have plenty of time for questions then.”

Loki conceded with ill grace, clearly shooting Darcy a look that said ‘We’ll finish this later.’ They moved to an empty conference room, decorated in the same stark orange as the rest of MCIS. Some effort had been made to soften the emptiness of the room but overall it was exactly what it looked like, a room to question people who weren’t quite suspects yet. It also, Thor noted, had no cameras. 

“I don’t know what you hope to gain.” Loki said irritably. “You can’t use any information you get telepathically in court.” He folded his hands together and then frowned and moved them under the table. 

“No.” Charles admitted. “But if, say, you happen to know that Shaw sends out courier every Friday at two then we investigate the place based on an anonymous tip and apply for a warrant on the specific day that Shaw just happens to make his drop offs.”  
“Impressive.” Loki said with a sharp, gleaming smile. “Very sneaky.”

“Indeed.” Charles smiled back. “In the game of mutant-mutant crime we have our tricks to stay ahead even if the legislators insist on poking their noses in. Now then my friend,” He brought a hand up to his temple. “If you wouldn’t mind bringing down those quite impressive shields of yours?”

“You can’t just break in?” Loki asked curiously.

Charles winced. “I could but that would be rude and would hurt both of us considerably. I’d rather you just let me in.”

“Very well.” Loki huffed softly. “It is done.” Suddenly Loki seemed so much more there as if he’d been a pale imitation of himself before. Thor breathed him in. Physically nothing had changed but that hint of a connection that had been teasing at Thor mercilessly was suddenly thrumming loudly between them. Loki shot him a startled glance that he returned with a beam. 

“Excellent.” Charles breathed softly. “Now if you could just bring your time with Shaw to the fore.” Charles’ eyes glazed over. “Yes just like that thank you.” For a long minute there was silence but for the sound of breathing and the ticking of the clock. Then Charles inhaled sharply. Erik moved forward, leashed violence in every step. Thor matched him, moving up behind Loki. “Erik” Charles swung to face the German man. “Erik, Shaw took dinner with Viktor Von Doom last night.” 

Doom? Thor’s protective instincts flared. Doom was a notorious arms dealer and collector of all things special. There were dark rumors within the Sentinel community that he was even dabbling at replicating and manipulating the Sentinel gene as well as specifically anti-Sentinel weapons. Thor laid his hands on Loki’s shoulders protectively and Loki stiffened. Charles cried out and swung back to face Loki, evidently still connected mentally. There was a horrified silence between the two. “Oh my friend,” Charles breathed out at last. “I am so sorry.” 

Loki shook Thor’s hands off. “It was a long time ago.” He said stiffly. 

“Clearly not long enough.” Charles said softly, an aching sympathy written in every syllable.

Loki turned to leave. “I doubt it ever will be.” Then he positively ran from the room, leaving a bewildered Sentinel behind him. 

~*~

Thankfully Loki managed to make it to the toilet before he vomited. ‘Fantastic.’ He thought sarcastically. ‘I now smell like a homeless person. Garbage and vomit mmm. Yummy.’ He dry heaved again and strong fingers reached around to pull back his hair. Thor was a steady, warm wall at his back. The man stroked his back soothingly and Loki found himself relaxing into it. 

He retched once more and then calmed, his stomach soothed for now. He lay in Thor’s arms, panting and exhausted. It was too much, it was all too much. He just wanted to lie down and stop fighting, even if just temporarily. Perhaps tomorrow.  
Thor’s strong hands rubbed at his scalp. “Loki?” It was a soft purr in the dim and deserted restroom. “What’s wrong? What happened back there?” 

He sighed. “Just bad memories.” He could practically feel the other man hesitating. “Spit it out Thor.” He said with faint aggravation. 

“Sometimes” Thor ventured. “Burdens shared are burdens halved.” 

“Not this one.” Loki whispered. “This one is mine until I die.”

~*~

Once Loki recovered, he excused himself to take advantage of MCIS’ showers, leaving Thor to seek out the telepath. He didn’t have far to look. Lensherr and Xavier were still in the conference room, heads bent close together. There was a cup of water at Xavier’s elbow and the other mutant had a warm arm cupping Charles close. The telepath was visibly upset, his face china white, his lips compressed to almost nothing. They both looked up when he came into the room and then Erik moved away. He seemed to have interrupted a private moment. Normally he would have apologized and excused himself but he didn’t have the luxury of time at the moment. 

“What did you see when you were in Loki’s head?” He demanded. 

Charles shook his head. “My oaths as a telepath keep me from telling you without his express permission. You know that.”

Thor waved an impatient hand. “You bend or outright break your rules all the time Xavier.” Charles’ eyes narrowed, his hackles visibly rising. Thor forcibly calmed himself. “Please.” He said softly. “He needs help. I can help him but he won’t let me in. Just give me some idea about what I’m dealing with.” 

Charles massaged his temples, visibly considering. Thor did not miss the glance he shot to Erik either. Only when the metal bender gave a short curt nod did he concede. “It’s not what you’re thinking.” He told Thor, lifting his head. “Loki hasn’t been violated sexually. He’s quite vicious when he wants to be.” 

Thor sagged in relief, a slight smile quirking his mouth. “Oh believe me I know.”

“Oh my friend.” Charles’ voice was laced with laughter. “Trust me. You do not.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *laughing in the distance* Thor thinks he's got Loki all figured out. Also it's my headcanon that Sentinels get a little dopey when they first find their guides.

**Author's Note:**

> This is such ass tbh. Why am I like this?


End file.
